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Google Exec Eric Schmidt Called Out for Interrupting the Only Woman on Panel

After a panel on innovation at SXSW in Austin on Monday, Google executive Eric Schmidt was called out for repeatedly interrupting U.S. Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith, the only woman on the panel.

During a Q&A session after the panel, someone pointed out the Schmidt was repeatedly interrupting Smith without noticing, and asked Smith how she felt about the unconscious bias that affects women. It turns out that the person who called out Schmidt Judith Williams, who just happens to be the Global Diversity and Talent Program manager at Google.

While she didn’t use that specific phrase, Williams was criticizing Schmidt for “manterrupting” Smith, a phrase my colleague Jessica Bennett brought to light earlier this year. Here’s how she describes it:

We speak up in a meeting, only to hear a man’s voice chime in louder. We pitch an idea, perhaps too uncertainly – only to have a dude…